Oil temp guage not working

[andy64]

Hi,

The oil temp guage in my 2.0 16v coupe hasn't worked since I bought the car and I'd like to try and track down the fault if I can. As it is the needle only just raises off the min temp stop on the guage no mater how long the cars been running.

So can anyone offer any suggestions for how to test if it's the guage thats fualty, the temp sender or the wireing somewhere in between. And where is the oil temp sender located on the 2.0 16V engine?

cheers
Andy

 

[audi5e]

If the gauge moves at all then you do at least have a connection. It is most likely a faulty sender unit. Also that is the cheapest part to replace.

 

[andy64]

bonus, so where about are they located and do you know if their difficult to change?

thanks, Andy

 

[Rev-head]

Think it is situated around the oil filter

 

[audi5e]

[ QUOTE ]
Think it is situated around the oil filter

[/ QUOTE ]

may also be on the sump. check if the sump plug is actually a sensor?

 

[andy64]

Right after a bit of a delay i finaly found the oil temp sender. It's located behind the oil pressure switch/sender above the oil filter, as hopefully the photos show.

Unfortunately this makes it seem very difficult to get to in order to replace it. Has anyone else done this or got any tips of how to go about it? The obvious thing to try would be to remove the oil pressure sender first but this is also very difficult to get a spanner to due to all the pipes and wires around it's base

 

[audi5e]

I don't even know how you got a camera in there...

Looks like you will have to remove a couple of items to get in there.

 

[andy64]

Right. I got a replacement temp sender from a guy on ebay which was easy and switched it with my old one which was very awkward. But, it still hasn't solved my problem, the needle only ever gets up to the next mark above 60degC however long the engine's been running.

Does anyone have any ideas of what else I can try?

 

[audi5e]

Looks like it's the gauge then. Visit a scrap yard and see if they will let you substitute a used one (test), if it works then buy it. One other check you could make is to make sure there is continuity on all the wiring. If you have a diagram for that model, then check where the wires should be running and confirm that there is a connection from end to end.

 

[scotty33]

The gauges in my coupes don't go above the second mark, I thought this was normal?

 

[audi5e]

I suppose the point is that engine oil actually takes a long time to warm up. The coolant should be at operating temperature within 5 or 6km. I have noticed that the oil can take 30 - 40 km or a decent trip on the motorway to get up to temp. So maybe it's just that you guys don't drive far enough on one trip?

 

[andy64]

it certainly never used to get warm even after a hundred miles or so on the motorway, but i haven't done anything like that since i changed the sender so maybe i'll give it a chance before i try anything else

 

[audi5e]

Let us know what happens.